Xamarin, Symplified Team Up to Bring Identity Management to Mobile Devs

Symplified, an identity-as-a-service solution provider, and Xamarin, a maker of cross-platform mobile application development tools, have entered into a partnership to make it easier for mobile developers to secure their enterprise applications running on iOS, Android and Windows Phone, as well as Mac desktops.

Under the new partnership, the Symplified Mobile Developer SDK is now available in the Xamarin Component Store. This software development kit (SDK) enables developers to easily integrate user authentication technology into their native applications—cutting development time while providing users with proven identity and access management capabilities.

Shayne Higdon, president and CEO of Symplified, said the Symplified Mobile Developer SDK is the first mobile SDK from his company; it is also the first enterprise identity SDK in the Xamarin Component Store.

"Mobile application developers should have a standard way of authenticating users and shouldn't have to spend countless hours developing code which may still open up security vulnerabilities once integrated into their applications," Higdon said in a statement. "The Symplified Mobile Developer SDK builds on our foundation as an identity-as-a-service company focused on security—providing the right tools for organizations to maintain visibility and control across the numerous cloud, mobile and on-premises applications they use today."

Developers can use the new Symplified SDK to better leverage standards and existing identity infrastructure investments. Moreover, with the new out-of-the-box component, developers can easily build, test and deploy authentication and single sign-on (SSO) capabilities for their native mobile applications and securely connect them to existing enterprise user stores.

The Symplified Mobile Developer SDK is available as an open-source component in the Xamarin Component Store. Developers can select the component from within Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio, integrate it into their native mobile applications and configure the Identity Provider (IdP) settings. Along with the SDK, Symplified provides developers with a sandbox testing environment, full API documentation and online support forums.

"Identity management and security are top concerns for mobile enterprises today" Xamarin CEO and co-founder Nat Friedman, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with Symplified to accelerate secure enterprise mobility."